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Del Morrill, M.S. C.C.H

Transitions

A Center for Counseling & Hypnosis
Tacoma, Washington, USA
(253) 752-1506

Rapid Inductions

Question
I get nervous when so many hypnosis teachers make a big thing out of rapid inductions. Some of them seem to insist it is the ONLY and BEST way to get someone hypnotized, and that they have NEVER failed with it. I get the feeling that many of them, or their own teachers, came out of the stage hypnosis way of handling people. Doesn′t snapping your fingers and telling people to sleep, or other such ?quickies,? promote rather than dispel people′s concepts of hypnosis as somebody controlling you. Am I in the wrong here? Or is there another way?

Answer
I find rapid inductions okay for some clients, especially, if that's the only way they feel they can be hypnotized. However, a majority of the people who come to me are so stressed these days that they need to learn to make use of their own relaxation responses, breathing, etc., as a means of learning self-hypnosis and, at the very least, relaxation in the midst of stressful situations. I've not figured out how snapping one's fingers and saying SLEEP can train them for that. Also, because certain brief inductions (like the frequent snap-fingers/SLEEP) come off like the usual expectations re: "stage" hypnosis, I agree with you that they carry certain connotations of the hypnotist 'making" you do something. This opposes what I've just been explaining to clients about "being in control," and the idea that we are helping the client with ′self? hypnosis. I know that some people speak of the rapid induction as excellent way to "prove" that the induction is working, but others speak of them as being the only way they hypnotize, and usually say it allows them to get the problem more quickly and that it gets more clients going through their office each day. If that's important to them, and it works for them, fine. But, sometimes, I wonder if wanting to move people through one's office as fast as possible (and, thus, make more money) is necessarily the most therapeutic way to handle some people who may have issues to address - some of them not immediately raised in the first few minutes with a therapist.. Many of my female clients, especially, (and a good number of the men, as well) are grateful for the chance to talk through something and get at the real issues that may need to be addressed. Others are just delighted with the experience of being deeply relaxed. And most seem amazed at their ability, whether you use rapid inductions or longer ones. I prefer to see a ?non-rapid? induction as a "process" that leads into and deepens a trance state, which, in itself, is being therapeutic. One could say, that there isn't always such a distinctive line between the induction/deepening process and the prescription for a specific issue (or "patter"). By the way, in terms of "I don't know whether I was hypnotized!" - I've seen as many people raise that question when a hypnotist uses rapid inductions as with those who use longer ones; so I'm unsure just how effective rapid inductions are supposed to be as convincers of hypnosis any more than any other type of induction. I also wonder if those who are convinced they are "successful every time with every client," actually know that fact for sure, or whether their very direct approach makes their clients afraid of saying anything else - sort of like how one feels with a medical doctor who looks you in the eye and says, "now you feel better, don't you?" and you wouldn't dare tell him otherwise.

 
 

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